Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy and other medications are employed to treat various types of cancer. However, each treatment has its own set ...of side effects, owing to its low specificity. As a result, there is an urgent need for newer therapeutics that do not disrupt healthy cells’ normal functioning. Depriving nutrient or non/semi-essential amino acids to which cancerous cells are auxotrophic remains one such promising anticancer strategy.
l
-Arginine (Arg) is a semi-essential vital amino acid involved in versatile metabolic processes, signaling pathways, and cancer cell proliferation. Hence, the administration of Arg depriving enzymes (ADE) such as arginase, arginine decarboxylase (ADC), and arginine deiminase (ADI) could be effective in cancer therapy. The Arg auxotrophic cancerous cells like hepatocellular carcinoma, human colon cancer, leukemia, and breast cancer cells are sensitive to ADE treatment due to low expression of crucial enzymes argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS), argininosuccinate lyase (ASL), and ornithine transcarbamylase (OCT). These therapeutic enzyme treatments induce cell death through inducing autophagy, apoptosis, generation of oxidative species, i.e., oxidative stress, and arresting the progression and expansion of cancerous cells at certain cell cycle checkpoints. The enzymes are undergoing clinical trials and could be successfully exploited as potential anticancer agents in the future.
A
bstract
Atomic dark matter is a simple but highly theoretically motivated possibility for an interacting dark sector that could constitute some or all of dark matter. We perform a comprehensive ...study of precision cosmological observables on minimal atomic dark matter, exploring for the first time the full parameter space of dark QED coupling and dark electron and proton masses (
α
D
,
m
e
D
,
m
p
D
) as well as the two cosmological parameters of aDM mass fraction
f
D
and temperature ratio
ξ
at time of SM recombination. We also show how aDM can accommodate the (
H
0
, S
8
) tension from late-time measurements, leading to a better fit than ΛCDM or ΛCDM + dark radiation. Furthermore, including late-time measurements leads to closed contours of preferred
ξ
and dark hydrogen binding energy. The dark proton mass is seemingly unconstrained. Our results serve as an important new jumping-off point for future precision studies of atomic dark matter at non-linear and smaller scales.
Objective
The application of phytases helps in releasing bound phosphorus and other nutrients in cattle feed eventually reducing the need for supplementations. However, high production cost owing to ...the unavailability of cheaper sources of phytases has limited their usage in developing countries. Herein, firstly isolation, identification of a phytase from fungal isolate,
Aspergillus niger
NT7 was carried out followed by optimizing of all production parameters, through solid-state fermentation (SSF). Secondly, crude phytase was characterized and potential applicability of crude phytase was evaluated for dephytinization of wheat bran.
Results
The highest phytase production (208.30 ± 0.22 U/gds) was achieved using wheat bran as cheap agro-industrial substrate for SSF. The various physiological parameters were optimized including inoculum age and level (3-day old inoculum and 15 × 10
7
spores/ml), temperature (35 °C), a moistening agent (distilled water), medium pH (5), and supplementation of various biochemicals like sugar (Mannitol), nitrogen (ammonium sulphate) and detergent (Tween 80). Process optimization through one variable at a time (OVAT) approach increased the difference in productivity to more than 200%. The crude phytase of
A. niger
NT7 was thermostable, with optimal activity at 60 °C and also displayed optimal activity over a broad range of acidic pH. Further, enhancement in phytase activity was found specifically in the presence of Ca
2+
, Zn
2+
, and Co
2+
ions, while other metal ions including Fe
2+
, Fe
3+
, Mn
2+
, Mg
2+
and Cu
2+
inhibited its activity. Finally, the phytase showed efficient and sustained release of inorganic phosphate, proteins, and reducing sugars (> 60 h) from livestock feed.
Conclusion
Overall, our report highlights the production of an efficient and thermotolerant phytase with potential as a low-cost animal feed supplement.
Graphic abstract
Abstract The mirror twin Higgs model (MTH) is a solution to the Higgs hierarchy problem that provides well-predicted cosmological signatures with only three extra parameters: the temperature of the ...twin sector, the abundance of twin baryons, and the vacuum expectation value (VEV) of twin electroweak symmetry breaking. These parameters specify the behavior of twin radiation and the acoustic oscillations of twin baryons, which lead to testable effects on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large-scale structure (LSS). While collider searches can only probe the twin VEV, through a fit to cosmological data we show that the existing CMB (Planck18 TTTEEE+lowE+lowT+lensing) and LSS (KV450) data already provide useful constraints on the remaining MTH parameters. Additionally, we show that the presence of twin radiation in this model can raise the Hubble constant H 0 while the scattering twin baryons can reduce the matter fluctuations S 8, which helps to relax the observed H 0 and S 8 tensions simultaneously. This scenario is different from the typical ΛCDM + ∆N eff model, in which extra radiation helps with the Hubble tension but worsens the S 8 tension. For instance, when including the SH0ES and 2013 Planck SZ data in the fit, we find that a universe with ≳ 20% of the dark matter comprised of twin baryons is preferred over ΛCDM by ∼ 4σ. If the twin sector is indeed responsible for resolving the H 0 and S 8 tensions, future measurements from the Euclid satellite and CMB Stage 4 experiment will further measure the twin parameters to O(1 − 10%)-level precision. Our study demonstrates how models with hidden naturalness can potentially be probed using precision cosmological data.
The current study aimed to achieve the enhanced phytase production from
Aspergillus niger
NT7 using the statistical method in solid-state fermentation to diminish their cost significantly for ...commercial purposes. The six different variables — the substrate’s amount, temperature, incubation time, pH, the concentration of mannitol, and ammonium sulfate — identified as critical parameters from the one variable at a time (OVAT) approach, were further modeled and optimized in solid-state fermentation using response surface methodology (RSM). Increased phytase production (521 ± 28.16 Ugds
−1
) by RSM was attained with 5-g wheat bran supplemented with 2% mannitol, 0.5% ammonium sulfate, and pH 4.3 at 35 °C after five days of fermentation. The phytase production was enhanced by 6.8- and 2.5-fold after statistical optimization compared to unoptimized culture conditions and OVAT methodology, respectively. Further, dephytinization of maize bran using crude phytase preparation resulted in ameliorated nutritional status with the release of phosphorous, reducing sugars, proteins, and minerals (Mn, Fe, Mg, Zn, and Ca). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing the nutritional enhancement of maize bran and the analysis of released minerals by ICP-MS using crude enzyme preparation. The current study successfully demonstrates the potential application of
A
.
niger
NT7 phytase for mitigating the antinutrient nature of phytate molecules in feed supplementation.
Graphical abstract
Rare meson decays are among the most sensitive probes of both heavy and light new physics. Among them, new physics searches using kaons benefit from their small total decay widths and the ...availability of very large datasets. On the other hand, useful complementary information is provided by hyperon decay measurements. We summarize the relevant phenomenological models and the status of the searches in a comprehensive list of kaon and hyperon decay channels. We identify new search strategies for under-explored signatures, and demonstrate that the improved sensitivities from current and next-generation experiments could lead to a qualitative leap in the exploration of light dark sectors.
In this paper, we propose a higher-order numerical scheme for the Black–Scholes PDE modeling European options. First, we convert the model problem from unbounded domain to a finite domain with a ...proper transformation. Then, the transformed problem is solved by a numerical scheme consists of the Crank–Nicolson scheme for the time derivative and central difference scheme for the spatial derivatives on uniform meshes, which is of second-order convergence in space and time. Then, in order to enhance the order of convergence, we apply the Richardson extrapolation technique, which provides fourth-order and third order convergence, respectively in space and time. We study the truncation error, stability and convergence of the proposed method, and numerical illustrations are carried out.
A YOUNG LADY WITH CHEST PAIN Yadav, Manajyoti; Singhania, Namrata; Bansal, Saurabh K.
European journal of internal medicine,
June 2020, 2020-06-00, 20200601, Letnik:
76
Journal Article
A 21-year-old male with no significant past medical history, presented with right upper quadrant(RUQ) abdominal pain along with fevers and chills. Lab work revealed leukocytosis, anemia, and slightly ...elevated alkaline phosphatase. Viral serology for hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus were negative and he was immunocompetent.Computed tomography imaging revealed hepatic abscesses, the largest measuring 9.5 cm. Empiric antibiotics were started and percutaneous drains were placed in the abscesses. Anaerobic cultures from the abscesses grew Fusobacterium nucleatum. This is a gram negative anaerobic bacteria; a normal flora of the oral cavity. Fusobacterium is most commonly seen in Lemiere’s disease, which is translocation of oral bacteria to the internal jugular vein causing a thrombophlebitis and subsequent spread of abscesses. Our patient did not have Lemiere’s, and is the first case described of fusobacterium pyogenic liver abscess in a young immunocompetent male with good oral hygiene. This case was complicated by sepsis, empyema, and subsequent abscesses located outside the liver. These abscesses’ have the propensity to flare abruptly and can be fatal. This case not only illustrates fusobacterium as a rare entity for pyogenic liver abscess, but also the need for urgent diagnosis and treatment. It is incumbent on physicians to diagnose and drain any suspicious hepatic lesions. While uncommon, such infections may develop without any overt source and can progress rapidly. Prompt drainage with antibiotic therapy remains the cornerstone of therapy.
Background: Sudden rise in COVID-19 cases in March 2020 due to spread of pandemic led to immediate lockdown order in many states and cities across the USA. Everyone had to stay home to stop the ...spread of the virus. We investigated all deaths in our hospital during lockdown period and assessed how many presented and died from non-COVID-19-related illness. Among those deaths, we assessed how many presented late due to excessive fear of catching coronavirus in the hospital and succumbed to the same illness due to very late presentation.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed charts of every patient who expired in the hospital in a 45-day period, March-April 2020.
Results: Three of 107 (2.8%) deaths during lockdown period in this hospital were clearly attributable to delayed presentation arising specifically from fear of coming to the hospital. All three died from non-COVID-19-related illnesses.
Conclusions: Authors hereby propose enhanced efforts in the direction to alleviate unnecessary fear among public even during lockdown. People should be encouraged to continue to access health care for serious/fatal medical conditions regardless of the pandemic.
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